There’s nothing like a good classic rock star fight. Axl Rose and Vince Neil. David Lee Roth and Van Hagar. Axl Rose and Slash. Gene Simmons and Ace Frehley. Axl Rose and most of the people he’s played with. And while some of the fueds and fights were staged and even comical at times, some actually lasted quite a few years and fueled the press, which drives, you guessed it, album and song sales.

Certainly one of the great feuds of all time, which lasted for a good fifteen years on and off was the war of words (and album sales) between original Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and the band with second singer, Sammy Hagar. History goes that Hagar and Roth were never great friends, even when Van Halen and Montrose occasionally played the same bill together, but when Hagar stepped in Diamond Dave’s place in 1986, a war of flames took off that filled the pages of all. the great rock magazines of the United States. at least the middle of the 80s and then on and off until today.

When it looked like Roth might return to the fold in 1996 after the band fired Sammy Hagar, the flames only grew after an unfortunate appearance at the MTV Music Award with a typically hyperactive Roth and increasingly grumpy Eddie Van Halen. Another war of words followed, Roth was clearly out, and Extreme frontman Gary Cherone chimed in after supersinger Mitch Malloy pulled out after the Roth fiasco.

Surprisingly, both singers shared a double program during a long absence from Van Halen in the early 2000s. No one was surprised when this melted away, although both artists did wrap up the comically titled ‘Sans Halen’ tour dates. Starting in 2004, Hagar rejoined the group, but a clearly unhealthy Eddie Van Halen made the situation untenable (I was in the fifth row in Spokane and could clearly see something was wrong). So in 2007 Roth was back and as of this writing he still seems to be making things work with the group, although all parties admit that there has always been tension and always will be.

Currently, the band continues to tour intermittently after releasing the fantastic-sounding album A Different Kind of Truth. His 2012 earnings topped the $ 54 million mark and fans around the world lined up to see the classic rock quartet in action again. Unfortunately, Eddie Van Halen’s health issues caused a number of dates to be canceled, but since then the band has made a landing in Japan and everyone looks comparatively happy and healthy once again.